Most of us make our friends through work or hobby groups or just through other people… but can you imagine starting a new friendship with someone after just reading about them in the paper? Emma Dawson from Tean did after her mum Sandra spotted an interesting newspaper article, unaware of what it would lead to… It was my mum who read the article on the Kurdish asylum seeker in Stoke on Trent, she cut it out of the ‘Sentinel’ and kept it until I got home in the summer; I was living in Qatar in The Gulf then. I managed to get his contact from the author of the article and sent a few emails until finally one evening in the summer of 2002 I got to meet him in person. Great event Meeting Omar was a great event in my life, in the following years, I learnt a lot from him; mainly about his life in the UK as an asylum seeker and of his country, culture and people. Friday evenings were times we would cook together, often with other friends from the Kurdish community in Stoke on Trent. He came to my family house too and shared nice times with the family; something he missed greatly being so long and far away from ‘home’.
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But in 2004 this was all to change as Omar applied to go back home to Iraq. A strange feeling engulfed me, wanting your friend to be happy but knowing in wanting that, you risk never seeing him again. October 2004 I watched Omar board a flight at Heathrow and I remember thinking that I’d never see him again. Time passed Time passed and 8 months later I was boarding a flight to visit Omar and his family. The trip was long, flying from England via Italy into Turkey to cross into Iraq by car, after many long hours waiting at the border I was finally let into Iraq.
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I knew that Omar and two of his brothers were waiting for me on the Iraqi side and as I walked past all the cars lined up for the border, I saw Omar, his eyes and knew instantly he was happy. I could have turned round and gone home but I was there and well, they say the air in Kurdistan is some of the best in the world! While Emma was in Iraq, her mum Sandra was understandably worried about her daughter and what would happen while she was there - a trip to Iraq is no ordinary holiday...
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> Dangerous place Although his hometown of Kirkuk can still be a dangerous place to live at times, Omar is happy to be back home living with his family and working as a translator. Emma has kept in close contact with Omar and his family and is hoping to see them again in 2007... | 
